President Donald Trump pleased millions of conservatives — while enraging millions of liberals — on March 16 when his preliminary 2018 budget was released.

Particularly upsetting to liberals was the budget’s elimination of four cultural agencies — the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to The Washington Post.

While supporters of these organizations have complained that the $971 million being cut by Trump comprised less than 0.02 percent of the government’s $4.6 trillion budget, they have overlooked one important detail: It’s not the federal government’s job to provide “culture.”

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The Trump administration has explained that the cuts were meant to control the federal deficit, which grew significantly under President Barack Obama, according to CNN.

To make matters worse, that deficit could top $1 trillion by 2025 without spending cuts or revenue increases, the Congressional Budget Office reported.

While Trump’s budget has given more attention — and money — to much-needed line items, such as national defense and border security, liberals have been howling because he dared to cut funding for museums, libraries and other cultural programs.

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Arts groups have already begun a “furious lobbying campaign” to press Republicans in Congress to save the cultural endowments, according to The New York Times, as the House of Representatives will be the ones to actually draft the budget in coming months.

The truth is that museums, public television and other arts are nice luxuries to have in our society, but they’re just that — luxuries. They certainly are not necessities and pale in comparison to things like defense spending.

Furthermore, it’s simply not the federal government’s job to make sure everyone has access to culture or the arts, much less by using taxpayer dollars to do so.

Like and share this article on Facebook and Twitter if you agree with President Trump that these cultural endowments should be the least of our priorities in the federal budget.

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